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- Jack O’Holleran founded SKALE to solve Ethereum’s scalability issues with gas-free, elastic sidechains.
- Jack blends parenting and protocol building, focusing on user simplicity over flashy blockchain complexity.
Jack O’Holleran was not born into the crypto world. He grew up in Nebraska, more familiar with the football field than the Ethereum whitepaper. Even in his college days, he was better known as an American football player than as a tech entrepreneur.
But who would have thought, this figure with a sports background would actually be the brain behind one of Ethereum’s most ambitious Layer-2 projects: SKALE Network.
Jack O’Holleran: From Startup Hustle to Building SKALE
After graduating, Jack O’Holleran worked at a mobile security company, then founded two startups—Aktana and IncentAlign. At that time, blockchain was not yet in the daily vocabulary of many people. But amid the hustle and bustle of startups and mobile technology, Jack began to get to know Bitcoin in 2011.
He didn’t immediately fall in love. But when Ethereum emerged and opened the door wide for dApps, that’s where his curiosity grew deeper.
He didn’t just read the whitepaper, he looked for loopholes. For some people, Ethereum was a breakthrough at that time. For Jack, it was still half-finished. Scalability was a stumbling block. Imagine building a digital shopping mall, but only having one cashier. Eventually, the queue could be longer than the time people wanted to shop.
This is where the idea for SKALE was born. He met Stan Kladko, a physicist and cryptographer, and the two began to develop the concept of an elastic sidechain. Not only could it be developed according to needs, but it was also free of gas fees. If users usually have to pay high transaction fees just to click a button, SKALE tries to eliminate all that.
Jack Balances Family, Blockchain, and a Vision for Simplicity
Behind the scenes, Jack O’Holleran is not just a CEO. He is also a father of three and an athlete. His life seems to be divided between building a protocol that is resistant to shocks and arranging schedules between schools.
However, it is precisely from this rhythm of life that many decisions emerge that are not rigid. He knows that speed is not everything. What is needed is a system that remains solid even when pressed from various directions.
The year 2025 is an important moment. SKALE launched the BITE Protocol, a kind of special trick to eliminate the opportunity for MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) exploitation.
In the crypto industry, this is like ensuring that the queue cannot be cut by insiders. It didn’t stop there, Jack began to speak to the public more actively. Through the conference stage or X Space session, he reminded that blockchain should not feel like complicated technology.
He once said that blockchain should be “invisible.” He didn’t mean to disappear, but to blend it into everyday life. Just as you don’t need to know anything about electricity to turn on a light, you don’t need to know about consensus or validators to send tokens. That’s SKALE’s design philosophy—the more invisible it is, the better.
However, SKALE’s path hasn’t always been smooth. There were times when developers questioned his modular approach. They wanted speed, Jack wanted stability. He was like the guy who built the highway, while many just wanted a quick bamboo bridge. At the same time, other competitors emerged, bringing their own scalability narratives.
Despite this, SKALE has remained standing. Its community has grown from game developers to AI and social app makers. Jack didn’t force anyone to join SKALE, but he continued to build something that people would eventually want to stay with.
Now, while other big names are busy branding and token hype, Jack is more often than not sharing technical updates or answering technical questions from novice developers. On one hand, this makes him seem less bombastic. On the other hand, this approach builds trust that’s difficult to buy.
For Jack O’Holleran, building in crypto isn’t about chasing the limelight. It’s about creating something that works even when no one else is looking. And perhaps that’s the kind of leadership we need right now.
